Blue Sky Sky System One, December 2001
Oct 20, 2004 7:19 PM, By George Petersen
STUDIO MONITORING SYSTEM
Studio Monitors
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There are a lot of me-too studio monitors on the market, so it was refreshing to check out something that's truly different—at least from outward appearances. With their shiny, hemispheric, mica-filled, polypropylene LF cones, the Sky System One from Blue Sky International are some serious near-field reference monitors.
Touted as a “2.1 system,” the Sky System One comprises two Blue Sky SAT 6.5 bi-amplified satellite speakers and a companion Sub 12 powered subwoofer. All are mag-shielded for use near video and computer displays, and they are approved for use in THX pm3-certified studios.
Weighing 28 pounds each, the SAT 6.5 powered speakers include 1/4-inch/20-threaded inserts for OmniMount Series 100 hardware. Inside each of the 12x8x12-inch (HxWxD, with heat sink and tweeter waveguide) cabinets is a 6.5-inch, long-excursion woofer crossing over at 1.5 kHz to a 1-inch, dual-diaphragm tweeter with an integral waveguide and a high-output neodymium motor structure, powered by internal 100 +100-watt bi-amplification.
The “.1” part of the system, the 62-pound Sub 12, has a built-in 2.1 bass-management system with a fourth-order, 80Hz Linkwitz-Riley lowpass filter and a second-order, 80Hz highpass filter for the satellites. Under the hood of the 18x16x22-inch (HxWxD, with heat sink and grille) sub enclosure is a 12-inch, cast-frame, long-throw woofer with onboard 200-watt power amp.
Hookup is easy enough, although without detents on the input-level pots, balancing the sub-to-satellite ratio takes a bit of time; it's somewhat easier if you leave both satellites in the full-on “reference” setting and then tweak the subwoofer pot to your liking. In a fairly small 12x12-foot room, the main problem was too much—rather than not enough—sub, so by starting with the woofer at max and moving downward, the exact balance can be reached via one knob. The sub also has a dedicated subwoofer input for use as a stand-alone sub or as a second sub in a stereo LF install. All connections are via balanced XLR connectors at +4 dB. Each speaker has an IEC power cable and AC switch, but, unfortunately, the power-on LED is on the back of all the speakers; a second LED, paralleled to the rear one, would have been nice.
In the studio, the Sky System One proved impressive. The top end was nonhyped and linear, well beyond 15 kHz, providing for a nonfatiguing listening experience. The mids were well defined, with no edginess present around the 1.5kHz crossover at all, which is a critical slice in the vocal range. At the lower end, the sub had plenty of punch with no signs of slowing down, providing an ideal match for the satellites, especially in a small- to medium-sized control room—these are near-fields, after all.
What really wowed me about Sky System One was the imaging and overall soundstage, which offered excellent localization and a reach-out-and-grab-it phantom center channel effect. Yeah!
A Sky System One 2.1 system retails at $1,595; a 5.1 system is $3,720.
Blue Sky International, www.abluesky.com.
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